I don’t always post about new releases this way, with a stand alone blog post. But I wanted to add something about this Christmas book in a little more detail. This is part of the Chase series I started with my first indie book,Chase of a Lifetime, and the characters have changed and evolved over the past few years in ways I couldn’t have predicted when I released the first book. In fact, I didn’t plan this to be a series at all. And the only reason I turned it into a series is because I enjoy the characters myself so much.

In the book previous to this one, Chase of a Holy Ghost, Jim Darling-Mayfield goes through several disappointing, life-changing events that I can’t post about now because of spoilers. But Chase of a Christmas Dream gives Jim a chance to fill the voids in his life…the things he is missing and the fears he’s taken on, because of all the trauma he’s experienced. He even winds up going to a fortune teller in this book, out of frustration and fear. I tried to make that part humorous, but there’s also a deeper side to it I hope people will understand. I’m actually very interested in the metaphysical and I took a lot of my own personal experiences and added them here.

Jim also meets someone new through Doc Sharp. He’s a young man who did a tour of duty in Afghanistan as a Marine, and he’s got more than a few surprises for both Jim and Len. Again, I don’t want to give out spoilers, but I think this part of the book…and series…shows how much Jim doesn’t care about convention or what most people think of as perfection. The fundamental flaw, if it could even be referred to as a flaw, in the Marine is something that I think helps all the characters move forward. And it shows how people can beat all the odds no matter what life hands them.

Although Jim and Len Mayfield have had a rough year with the death of Arturo and Radcliff’s cancer surgery, Christmas at COAL Ranch is still something everyone’s looking forward to, especially their son, Culum. The entire family is arriving for a week and Len has planned his annual Christmas Eve horse and buggy ride around the ranch. This Christmas is a little different because they’ve met a sexy, handsome former Marine who lost his leg in Afghanistan, Jim’s dad is dealing with chemotherapy, and Len’s mom is now dating a former Catholic priest. Everything should be perfect this Christmas, however, Jim is terrified something bad might happen to ruin their plans. So he visits a dubious fortune teller in Hollywood who sells him an eight hundred dollar “magic” candle that will keep all evil and impending doom away from his family. When he leaves the fortuneteller he feels so safe he doesn’t think anything bad can ever happen to his small family again. Then fate takes over and Jim and Len face another surprise crisis that threatens to destroy the happiness they’ve worked so hard to build. And this Christmas could turn out to be one of the worst they’ve ever shared. Will the sexy former Marine who lost his leg be able to fill the void in Jim’s life he can’t seem to figure out? And will the fortune teller’s tragic prediction actually come true?

My new book in the Chase of a Lifetime series is coming out soon and I wanted to post a few points about it so readers know what’s going on. This is the third book in the series and it’s titled, Chase of an Adventure: Fifty Shades of Gay.

It’s not related in any way to Fifty Shades of Grey, nor is it parody of any kind. In this book the two main characters, Len and Jim, go through some very serious changes when Len’s family comes into the picture. For those who’ve read the first two books, you know that Len’s family in Connecticut was mentioned but never actually discussed in detail. All we know at this point is that when Len got Janet pregnant at sixteen years old Len’s family banished them to Texas and Len’s never forgiven them.

I also wanted to get into how long term gay relationships change and develop as time goes on. I think in many ways it’s like straight marriages, but not completely because the dynamics are different and gay men think like men. In order to do this, I had to show the many shades, so to speak, of gay and how gay men do things. It’s not as simple as most people would think, because gay men, like everyone else, are all different and what works for one couple doesn’t always work for another.

A small difference in this book as opposed to the first two books is that this one I did not self-publish. In fact, I hadn’t even planned on writing another book in this series for a while. In August I signed to do eight more books with Ravenous Romance that will all concentrate on gay romance and billionaire gay rakes. I just finished The Billionaire Bad Boy of Harvard Yard, and now I’m working on The Wall Street Shark. I’d never actually written rake-ish characters and I wanted to do something different. When the publisher asked, I jumped at it.

But they also asked me to write a third book in the “Chase” series, and I decided to do it this time because I had planned on getting into more detail about Len’s past eventually and the timing seemed good. I also didn’t feel like self-publishing because it’s twice the work for me. The only differences between the self-published books I wrote and this new book with Ravenous is the price. I don’t set the prices, the publisher does. I will keep the two self-published books priced at .99 for the time being…at least the next year…so people can read part of the series at a discounted rate. And I’m sure Ravenous will price the new release competitively. I don’t think any of my books with them are over 7.99. Some are actually .99 on Amazon…An Officer and His Gentleman.There’s also another reason why I wanted to do this Chase book with a publisher instead of on my own as I did with the first two books. Self-publishing often takes a lot of knocks from people who don’t know what they are talking about. Sometimes they are right; sometimes they are wrong. I experienced a few snide self-publishing comments about Chase of a Lifetime that I thought were interesting. I have more experience in publishing than many of the new start up e-presses out there. I have more experience than some of the new literary agents who have created their own e-publishing services. And when I self-published the first two books in the “Chase” series I took that experience and used it the same way I’ve been using it with every single book I’ve ever had published with a publisher in the past twenty years. I think the biggest difference you’ll see with this book is the cover style is different from the first two books. But that’s about it. We didn’t even do that many edits with this one. It was basically submitted and went to print.

Also, there won’t be an abridged version of this book, or any others, for a long time. I did that with Chase of a Dream to see if people would be interested in reading the same gay romance without explicit sex scenes. So far, the uncensored, unabridged version of that book has done well in sales. The one without the sex scenes sits alone, almost completely ignored. And I would have thought at least a few people who’ve been complaining I had too much sex in my books would have taken the time to read it. I was so hoping they would. I did it just for them.

Here’s the blurb for Chase of an Adventure: Fifty Shades of Gay, and I’ll be posting more soon.

In this third novel from the Chase of a Lifetime series, Jim Darling and Len Mayfield are picking up the pieces in the wake of Cain Mayfield’s tragic death. While Jim is busy working on a new marketing plan for Carol Greene’s medical marijuana dispensaries, Len is trying to figure out ways to get Jim to experiment with BDSM.

Though Jim Darling misses his best friend Cain so much it hurts, he’s willing to do anything to please his husband…a husband who suddenly seems like a different person Jim can’t figure out.

After a terrible scare that involves bees and their toddler son, Culum, they get a phone call from Len Mayfield’s estranged mother in Connecticut that changes their lives forever. For the first time since Jim had known Len, he finally meets the family Len has refused to talk about and Jim is in for more than a few surprises.

With all the original characters from previous books, Jim and Len wind up rediscovering their relationship. Jim also discovers there are more than a few shades of gay and he has to figure out how to deal with them on his own terms. Will the next tragedy they face bring them closer or pull them apart? And will Jim ever come to terms with the things his husband expects him to do?ETA: Someone asked if I’ll be self-publishing anything else in the future and I wanted to update this post about that. Yes, I will be self-publishing in the future. I prefer working with publishers, but I’ve also enjoyed publishing on my own. If anyone has any questions about self-publishing, feel free to e-mail me.

Author of over 100 published LGBT romance novels and stories, including AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN and best selling VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE SERIES. Hates beets.
New Hope, PA Palm Springs, CA
ryan-field.blogspot.com